Take the tour

Whether you love monkeys and meerkats, birds and butterflies or spiders and snakes, you'll just love the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis!

MORE THAN JUST A ZOO the award winning Lakeland Wildlife Oasis takes you on an interactive and educational tour of the entire animals kingdom using its own unique mix of wild animals from around the world and imaginative "hands-on" displays.

* TROPICAL HALL

* SEA-LIFE

* BUTTERFLY HOUSE

* FREE RANGING ANIMALS

* WALK THROUGH AVIARY

* AQUARIUM

* OVER 25 INTERACTIVE EXHIBITS

* MANY THREATENED SPECIES

* "MEET THE ANIMAL" SESSIONS

* EXCELLENT FOOD IN OUR "CREATURE COMFORTS CAFE"

* WELL STOCKED GIFT SHOP

* FREE PARKING

* ALL WEATHER ATTRACTION

* INDOOR AND OUTDOOR EXHIBITS

Many rarely exhibited species are kept here, often as part of international breeding schemes aimed at preventing their extinction.

                                                                             During busy times there are regular "Meet the Animals" sessions offering guests the chance for some close encounters of  the wild kind.

Guests can use over 25 different hands-on exhibits:- design your own mammal using an interactive computer game or design your own insect by rolling a ball through the "bugatelle". Can you lift enough plankton to make a fish finger - it's more than you might think!? Make yourself a souvenir fossil rubbing or follow the ink stamps through the Evolution Trail. Touchy-feely fossils might appeal but what is that tool chest doing in the walk-through aviary!?

      You can even build your own genes!

IN THE BEGINNING

Life began in the sea and the first hall explains how it might have happened and shows some of the simple life forms alive today. Aspects of their biology are explained using microscopes and other interactive displays.

THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE

In complete contrast is the butterfly house, a miniature tropical jungle which is home, not only to a host of free flying exotic butterflies , but to many other tiny life forms. A much talked about exhibit is our colony of South American leaf cutter ants which carry their cargoes of leaves, petals and other vegetation along a suspended walkway back to their nest where they use it to cultivate their own mushrooms - their staple diet. Giant tropical millipedes are on show as well as tarantulas, stick insects and others.

The butterfly house is home to more than just creepy crawlies however and, like and jungle, supports a host of exotic plant life;- huge Hibiscus flowers, Bougainvillea, Oleander, passion flowers exotic palms and many others add atmosphere and beauty.

THE AQUARIUM

Both freshwater and marine fish may be found in the aquarium. Amongst the more unusual specimens are the bizarre African lungfish and mudskippers, even stranger fish which spend as much time on land as in the water. Both were chosen to illustrate how fish may have started their colonisation of the land and subsequent evolution into the amphibians. Interactive exhibits here include your chance to make a souvenir fossil rubbing.

THE TROPICAL HALL

More exotic vegetation but this jungle comes complete with free ranging birds and even free range fruit bats, their impressive metre wingspan causing a few raised eyebrows when they fly !. There are more interactive displays too including a chance to "Design your own Mammal" computer quiz, a "Whale Weigh" station all the bits to construct a fossil jigsaw and many others. But perhaps the most popular exhibits here are the reptiles. There are regular "Meet the Reptile" talks by our animal care staff - you chance to meet an iguana or chameleon face to face or get up close and personal with a python. There are amphibians too, including some of the worlds most threatened frogs: the tiny bright orange mantellas from Madagascar. There are weird and wonderful axolotls from Mexico and brightly coloured poison arrow frogs from Central America amongst them. The mammals include tree shrews which, although they look like a cross between a squirrel and a shrew are one of your more distant relatives. Pygmy marmosets may be seen too; the worlds smallest monkey which could nestle down comfortably inside a teacup.

OUTDOORS

Free ranging animals like Patagonian hares, muntjac deer, and birds range freely outside whilst other specimens are confined. These include the rarely seen fossa - the largest carnivore from Madagascar. It looks like a puma except for its extraordinarily long tail which is uses for balance whilst it hunts lemurs through the forests of its Malagasy home. It's one of the worlds most threatened animals and ours are the only ones in the north of England and are kept here as part of the international breeding scheme aimed at preventing their extinction. So too are our lemurs. Our meerkats are always popular and children (and adults!) can have a close look by crawling into their enclosure beneath a transparent dome. Our monkey house is home to squirrel monkeys, tamarins and a breeding colony of marmosets.

We keep many birds too including a flock of waldrapp ibis which can fly freely in our large walk-through aviary Only about 60 pairs still survive in the wild. They share the aviary with the equally rare Java peafowl, spoonbills, demoiselle cranes and others. Smaller aviaries house a variety of other birds including the pure white Bali starling, another extremely rare species.

NEW for 2007, a walk through South American Safari exhibit which houses cotton eared marmosets, squirrel monkeys and agoutis. It was officially opened on the 7th July by Tim Farron, Member of Parliament for Westmorland and Lonsdale and is proving to be very popular both with the public and inhabitants alike.

 

BACK INSIDE is our well stocked gift shop with animal theme toys, and gifts and our Creature Comforts Cafe provides hot and cold drinks, snacks salads and freshly cooked meals.